Cancer-Causing Chemical Found in 98 Shampoos and Soaps

An independent laboratory commissioned by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) tested the products to determine how much cocamide DEA
was present. CEH purchased these products after June 2013 from online and local California retailers, such as Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Kohl’s, and
Babies R Us.

Well, this is damning news. Out of the 98 products listed, I identified at least 1 product I have either used or bought for my children. I noticed the
Lalaloopsy bubble bath for kids on the list.

Many of the products tested contained more than 10,000 parts per million (ppm) of cocamide DEA. In all, CEH identified 98 products with cocamide
DEA among the ingredients, none of which carried the warning required by state law.

"The state has not set a [safety] level specific to cocamide DEA," says Charles Margulis, Communications Director and Food Program Director of CEH,
"but the levels we found exceed levels typical for carcinogens."

Mmm hmm. Do you know? ...100 years ago cancer was extremely rare. Now, 1 out of every 2 American men and 1 of 3 women will get cancer in their
lifetime.

Obviously something has changed.

And it has everything to do with soaps, and not chemicals laden on foods, in foods, sprayed around homes inside & out, what comes out the
backside of vehicles, poor health habits, bad vice choices, etc. It's ALWAYS the soaps at fault, dontcha know?

Not so fast. I just found this article online while fact checking the poster you addressed's claims, since he decided to post some information without
backing it up just like you did. Luckily for him this article backs him up.

We also know quite convincingly, and all nonsensical prehistoric arguments aside, that the incidence of cancer has increased dramatically over the
last century. The numbers are there. The data is there. Certainly, doctors can better diagnose tumors now than 50 or 100 years ago, but that's
diagnosis before death. After death when the body is opened up, any pathologist in the last century would recognize a grapefruit sized mass in the
colon as cancer. The death would be recorded as cancer. Is it 100% certain? No. It's certainly possible that doctors as recently as the 1940's and
50's were totally incompetent and never noticed tumors when they performed autopsies or treated battlefield wounds when soldiers' insides lay exposed
before them. It's also possible that the extra 3-7 years that people are living now as opposed to 100 years ago have made a difference. And yes,
that's all that life expectancy has really increased over the last hundred years -- once you account for the decline in infant mortality, which
dramatically skews the numbers. Perhaps the risk of cancer really does increase fivefold in that small handful of extra years "adults" now live versus
100 years ago. Yes, these things are possible…but not very likely. They can only be argued because as unlikely as they are, you can't prove that
they're not true -- like perpetual motion.

And finally, we absolutely know that the dietary and lifestyle choices we make and our exposure to toxins affect our chances of getting cancer. Again,
arguments to the contrary are like arguments for perpetual motion. How do we know this? Quite simply, cigarettes! We know for a fact that in any
sample population, cigarette smokers have a far higher incidence of numerous cancers as opposed to non-smokers. Can you absolutely prove the
connection (perpetual motion) between cigarettes and cancer? Nope. You can always find someone who's smoked two packs a day for 50 years and never got
cancer. But any rational person knows that if you smoke heavily, your "odds" of getting cancer are dramatically higher.

I don't deny cancer has not increased, i mean, the population increased thus the ratio will increase as well. The article is generally saying "this
and this " may cause cancer, but more half of the things it list are not proven.

If cancer and mental disorders were not diagnosed properly 'back then', how do you know they were "common"?

FYI - the smell alone makes cancer hard to miss. Add to that the fact that every doctor had a microscope 'back then' - and used it - those pesky
little cancerous cell changes would NOT be overlooked. ...Cancer really was extremely rare.

Also FYI - autopsies were mandatory between 1950-60 in the US. The HUGE difference in cancer incidence then and now is undeniable.

...We have changed our world from the micro level up to the macro - predictably, we are "adapting." Some of our adaptations are not immediately
beneficial.

The article is generally saying "this and this " may cause cancer, but more half of the things it list are not proven.

imho - Anything that alters the molecular environment should be proven absolutely safe before it's released aka used. That's because
everything else mutates and adapts in response to change. And forget the "dispersion effect."

This chemical researches out as bad for a person. I don't know the concentrations in shampoos, if it is very small, it probably wouldn't matter but
if there is even an ounce in a twelve ounce bottle it can cause problems. It seems that many chemicals used in our soaps are a problem for health
nowadays. This is just one. We take too many showers, it rinses the oils out of our skin and some of the beneficial microbes we need for health are
also lost. How do we keep the beneficial ones while getting rid of the bad ones? I haven't figured that one out yet but I do know killing all of
them is bad. I don't think we ever had this right, always going to extremes both ways in history.

I think showering with water everyday is fine and using soaps a couple times a week is acceptable. Some of the chemicals we use to stop perspiration
also plump the lymph system drains which means that they can not dump their garbage and this is bad. Try leaving your trash in a warm shed for a day.
Maybe we are making ourselves smell worse with all these things we do. Backing up the lymphic system sewer lines in a warm environment sounds a
little insane

The effects of both ambient air pollution and socioeconomic position (SEP) on health are well documented. A limited number of recent studies suggest
that SEP may itself play a role in the epidemiology of disease and death associated with exposure to air pollution. Together with evidence that poor
and working-class communities are often more exposed to air pollution, these studies have stimulated discussion among scientists, policy makers, and
the public about the differential distribution of the health impacts from air pollution. ...

Children's exposure to air pollution is a special concern because their immune system and lungs are not fully developed when exposure begins, raising
the possibility of different responses than seen in adults. In addition, children spend more time outside, where the concentrations of pollution from
traffic, powerplants, and other combustion sources are generally higher. ..

To date, the assessment of public health consequences of air pollution has largely focused on a single-pollutant approach aimed at estimating the
increased risk of adverse health outcomes associated with the exposure to a single air pollutant, adjusted for the exposure to other air pollutants.
However, air masses always contain many pollutants in differing amounts, depending on the types of emission sources and atmospheric conditions.
Because humans are simultaneously exposed to a complex mixture of air pollutants, many organizations have encouraged moving towards "a multipollutant
approach to air quality." Although there is general agreement that multipollutant approaches are desirable, the challenges of implementing them are
vast.

I don't deny cancer has not increased, i mean, the population increased thus the ratio will increase as well. The article is generally saying "this
and this " may cause cancer, but more half of the things it list are not proven.

The article seems quiet anti-science as well.

Actually if what you are claiming to be true the ratios would have to stay the same with the increase in population. This is because all a ratio is is
another form of saying percentage. When the ratios increase with the increase in population it says that the rate of cancer has gone up faster than
the rate at which the population has increased. This correlates to a higher chance of getting cancer in this day and age as opposed to 100 years ago.

And it has everything to do with soaps, and not chemicals laden on foods, in foods, sprayed around homes inside & out, what comes out the backside of
vehicles, poor health habits, bad vice choices, etc. It's ALWAYS the soaps at fault, dontcha know?

Mmm hmm. Do you know? ...100 years ago cancer was extremely rare. Now, 1 out of every 2 American men and 1 of 3 women will get cancer in their
lifetime.

Obviously something has changed.

Right. We're living longer (most cancers occur later in life) and our diagnostics are much better. What's so mysterious about that?

To the OP:

I read the article that the Yahoo one cites. It's interesting that CA law is based supposedly off this one review, when the results in the review
about whether or not it causes cancer are inconsistent across the organisms it references. It mentions that mice experience similar survival rates,
but that those given high and sometimes low doses of cocamide DEA had typically had greater cancer incidence. When you move to rats, however, there is
no statistically significant difference at all. How can you logically extrapolate the results of that study in mice to humans when you can't even
extend it to rats? Additionally, when we use shampoo, we don't leave it there. Though I couldn't find anything in the article, my assumption is that
they left the cocamide DEA on the dermis of the mice and rats without washing.

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